The English Language

[MartinCarpenter]

'The rest' is automatically inclusive, ie there's the set of things you're mentioning then everything else like them. Others leaves it open that there are other categories involved that aren't mentioned.

[soheil_hooshdaran]

So it means 'some others'?

[soheil_hooshdaran]

What does did mean in:
Although this could not be called ‘‘ancestor worship’’ (contra Emmons 1910), the Tlingit did believe that the dead could not only help but harm the living with illness and death, if the latter did not remember, honor, and help them.

[IM Jack Rudd]

"did believe" here has an identical meaning to "believed", but with the additional connotation that you might not have expected them to believe that.

[soheil_hooshdaran]

What does suggest mean in:
I suggest that the ‘‘love and respect’’ of the living toward the dead served as an ideology, enabling the living to present actions aimed at raising their status as noble and morally correct.

[MartinCarpenter]

Propose, hypothesise etc.

I'm not sure if there are any graduations of meaning between them - none that immediately leap to my mind.

[soheil_hooshdaran]

What does regalia mean here?

Frequently he also wore a headdress representing his clan or house. Other regalia of the matrilineal group of the departed were placed near the body, along with personal possessions.



Isn't regalia supposed to be an uncountable noun?

[soheil_hooshdaran]

What does 'wage labor' mean?
After the Americans put an end to warfare, the scale of the potlatch did increase, but that was due to the enrichment of the Tlingit from the fur trade and wage labor.

[Roger de Coverly]

What does 'wage labor' mean?

Looking up in wikipedia

The Tlingit are an indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America.

A potlatch is a gift-giving feast practiced by indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada and the United States, among whom it is traditionally the primary economic system.

Wage labor is an American term. From the context I would imagine it means that the Tlingit were employed by the Americans as well as trading fur and thus became richer.

[John McKenna]

Now that Roger has kindly regaled us with the results of his anthropological investigations I'll answer the earlier question about 'regalia' -

"Isn't regalia supposed to be an uncountable noun?"

It is, and that's why "Other regalia... " was correctly used in the text quoted instead of the erroneous "Other regalias... "

My dictionary has -

regalia: plural noun, but singular or plural in sentence construction

Therefore 'headdress' is singular regalia and "other regalia" plural in - "... he also wore a headdress representing his clan or house. Other regalia of the matrilineal group..."

A more commonly used word than 'regalia' is 'equipment' and it works in the same way -

He wore his cycle helmet and carried his other equipment in a rucksack.

[MartinCarpenter]

Regalia is much posher though

[soheil_hooshdaran]

does it mean
Things they hang on themselves to become more beautiful?

[John McKenna]

Yes, it does...

Equipment is necessary and functional, whereas regalia is ceremonial and decorative. You could call it posh paraphernalia.

[Michael Farthing]

I would say it meant "Things people hang on themselves to show what position they hold and how important it is". It is the showing of your status that is usually what is meant, not making yourself more beautiful. The 'regalia' is often passed on to the next person taking the same office, who will wear exactly the same things. It is often worn for special events (processions, openings ceremonies, giving awards and so on).

[Alex Holowczak]

regalia is ceremonial and decorative

The 'regalia' is often passed on to the next person taking the same office, who will wear exactly the same things. It is often worn for special events (processions, openings ceremonies, giving awards and so on).

"Regalia" I would think of as being an item of clothing worn by royalty, rather than something a commoner would wear.